2019

Bendik Giske

Bendik Giske is a queer artist and saxophonist using physicality, vulnerability and endurance as his tools of expression. His debut album Surrender was released on Smalltown Supersound early 2019, following the Adjust EP with remixes by Total Freedom and Lotic, as well as Rezzett and Deathprod.

Giske takes the building blocks of electronic music and plays it live—without layering or looping, to the best of his ability, allowing all the faults of being human come through. He cites Lindstrom’s arpeggio sounds and Evan Parker’s circular breathing as references, and by combining the two extreme sides of the scale, he seamlessly fuses freeform jazz and club music. As a composer, Giske has made original works for dance and theatre, and as a performer, he is as versatile as he is spellbinding.

Surrender is a mesmerizing debut that will take listeners on a true journey through the euphoria and wanderlust of nights spent in Berlin’s nightlife—using little more than his voice, saxophone, his instrument of choice, and more than a few well-placed microphones. With breath, steel and muscle Giske is transmuting his clubbing experience through the saxophone.